Gent-Wevelgem is the sprinters’ classic of the 2.5 weeks long cobblestones season. The event was first run in 1934, and 2013 will be its 75th edition. The race was positioned between Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix on Wednesdays, but in 2010 the race shifted to Sunday, the weekend before the Ronde.

Five riders in total, 4 of them Belgian, share the record of most wins with 3 victories each; Robert Van Eenaeme, Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx, Tom Boonen and Mario Cippollini. Besides Boonen’s double in 2001 and 2002, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Bernhard Eisel and Oscar Freire were able to win this prestigious classic more recently.

Featuring six categorized climbs, and ending atop the first-category l’Ospedale summit, Criterium Internatinal’s third and final stage will be the decider of this year’s winner.

Last year, on the same stage, it was Cadel Evans defending his yellow jersey after his Stage 2 TT victory, and in 2011 when it was the opening stage of Criterium International, Frank Schleck won it with a 20 seconds margin.

Team Sky’s Richie Porte and Chris Froome, BMC’s Cadel Evans and Tejay Van Garderen, Garmin-Sharp’s Andrew Talansky and AG2R’s Jean-Christophe Peraud will be the main riders to watch on the l’Ospedale climb.

In the first day of the Criterium International, we had 2 back-to-back stages. A 89.5 km sprint stage around Porto-Vecchio early in the morning, and a 7 km time-trial afterwards.

Blanco’s Theo Bos won the bunch sprint of the first stage, where Nacer Bouhanni of FDJ came second and Team Sax0-Tinkoff’s Jonathan Cantwell finished the stage in third place.

In the second event of the day, the 7km flat time-trial, SKY’s Paris-Nice winner Richie Porte was the fastest and grabbed the yellow jersey before the final stage of the race, featuring six categorized climbs, and ending atop the first-category l’Ospedale summit.

“We came in with Froomey as our leader and he’s a great friend, so if he’s got good legs tomorrow and I don’t then I’ll be more than happy to ride for him,” told Porte. “Obviously, I’d like to finish the job off if I can, but as long as Team Sky win tomorrow it’ll be a great day and we’ll all be happy. Right now I just want to enjoy the moment, and the fact that I have one more lion to add to the collection (laughs). I’m really happy on this team and in a really good place.”

Criterium International, formerly known as Criterium National de la Route is a 2-day race in Corsica, first held in 1932. It was a French-only race before it was open to non-French cyclists in 1979. Emile Idee, Raymond Poulidor and Jens Voigt share the record of most wins with 5 each whereas BMC’s Cadel Evans is the winner of its 2012 edition.

After 1.050 kilometers and numerous categorized climbs inland Catalunya, the riders are once again in the Mediterranean coast for the final stage of Volta 2013. This pretty short stage will end in Barcelona with 8 laps on a finishing circuit with the legendary Montjuic climb.

Last time we saw Montjuic was Vuelta Espana 2012 Stage 9, 3 kilometers before the finish line. The stage was won by Philippe Gilbert, carrying Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez in his backwheel, helping him extend his lead in GC.

Before the final stage of Volta a Catalunya, Dan Martin leads the race with 17 seconds but wait for Rodriguez to attack very strong in Montjuic in front of his own crowd in his hometown.

Orica Greenedge’s Australian rider Simon Gerrans won the sprint and collect his second win of the season after Tour Down Under’s Willunga Hill victory. Omega Pharma Quick-Step’s Gianni Meersman, winner of the first and second stages so far in Volta a Catalunya came second and AG2R’s Samuel Dumoulin came third.

“I was far back, but I knew the guys in front of me were still lead out riders, so I had time to come around them,” told Gerrans, describing his win. “I kicked quite hard out of the corner. This gave me the opportunity to move up and use my momentum to pop out in the last couple hundred meters. I had the legs to come from behind today. It’s fantastic to get another WorldTour stage win for the team.”

Simon Gerrans is the only rider that finished the snow-affected Milan-SanRemo race and also competing in Volta a Catalunya, which started the following day.

Race leader Dan Martin, snatching a three second mid-stage time bonus, extended his lead to 17 seconds on his closest follower Joaquim Rodriguez before Sunday’s final Stage 7.

E3 Harelbeke winner in 2010 and 2011, Fabian Cancellara attacked on the cobbled sector of Oude Kwaremont climb, 35 kilometres from the end, dropping Peter Sagan off his wheel. Cancellara, then easily managed to build 1 minute lead to the rest of the escapees; Daniel Oss, Geraint Thomas, Sebastian Langeveld, Sylvain Chavanel and Peter Sagan. At one point the gap reduced to 40 seconds but Cancellara was all too strong and didn’t drop his pace at any point during his solo run.

Peter Sagan won the sprint amongst the chase group, Daniel Oss getting the last podium spot. 5 time E3 Harelbeke winner Tom Boonen couldn’t get into the escape groups that formed before Cancellara’s break came, but managed to win the sprint amongst the remaining riders in the peloton, putting him into 7th place, but still 2:15 away from Cancellara.

“You have to take it when you can as you never know what tomorrow brings,” said Cancellara. “After my crash in Flanders last year this was my first race on this special ground. I saw that there were many Omega Pharma-QuickSteps in the front, so I decided to try something. It was a so hard but such a unique experience. Many things crossed my mind. This is a great win for me and for the team. Anything that will come now is a bonus.”